A motor vehicle of the above type is described in French patent publication No. 2 284 476. In the motor vehicle according to this publication, the suspension struts are bearing against the vehicle body by means of respective elastic mounts. The transverse member is supported on the respective upper ends of suspension struts by means of respective damping blocks which are loaded in compression. Therefore, in this arrangement, the mass of the vehicle body and the engine mass are arranged in parallel with one another.
In British Pat. No. GB-PS 851,873, an arrangement is disclosed wherein the transverse member supporting the drive unit is rigidly connected with the suspension struts of the motor vehicle. A form-locking connection of this type provides that the drive unit with its mass can be considered in its entirety as part of the spring mass. This arrangement results in a relatively large ratio between the sprung and the unsprung mass, so that the vibrations induced in the vehicle body by road irregularities are only of a minor nature. However, the drawback associated with this arrangement is that the form-locking connection causes stability problems to occur on the torque transmitting elements, especially the ball bearings of the suspension struts. Another potential problem associated with this construction is that due to the inherent engine vibrations, vibrations are caused in the vehicle body because the vehicle body itself is not directly articulated to a resting subsuspension.